Laingsburg softball’s Skylar Stiff finds gratitude through adversity

“Luckily, I was able to get my stitches out,” she said. “I was able to walk right after surgery. It feels alright, I mean, it feels a lot better than it did.”

The ankle has felt good enough for Stiff to play this spring. While a lot of players might be timid coming back from so many injuries, Cheadle said that hasn’t been a problem for Stiff.

“No, actually there’s been times when she was coming back I’d have to say ‘slow down, you don’t have to do everything in the first day!'” Cheadle said. “You can slowly get back into what you’re doing and make sure everything is good and stuff like that so yeah, we’ve actually kind of had to pull the reins back on her just a little bit.”

Stiff has been a key pitcher for the Wolfpack, helping them boast a 20-5 record so far this season.

After all she’s been through, she said she takes the field with gratitude.

“I learned to be very, very, very grateful for what I have been given, for the little time I have been given for high school softball,” she said. “For these practices, for spending time with my friends, for being able to pitch again and start and all of that, it’s very rewarding.”

“When something, a roadblock, is put up in front of you, [her story shows] that you can continue to work through it and make something positive out of it,” Cheadle said. “It might not be the story that you want totally but it can still be a good story.”

Stiff is one of eight seniors on the Laingsburg team, a group that has played together since they were little kids.

“I love them,” Stiff said. “They’re my best friends, all of them. We’re all in a pretty close group together outside of softball already so that helps. We all know each other outside of this, you hear us laughing at practice all the time. Cheadle gets annoyed with us a little bit but I know he enjoys it too.”

Five of the eight seniors are going on to play college softball, including Stiff, who has signed to play at Alma College.

Despite all the setbacks, her love for the game remains. She even put on a softball youth camp in Laingsburg as a senior project and said she hopes those kids can learn the importance of gratitude and empathy through her story.

“You never know what someone’s going through,” Stiff said. “You never know what’s behind closed doors. You might see someone on the bench, but you don’t know what’s going through their mind and what’s going on in their health. Just always be empathetic and always be grateful for every opportunity that you’ve been given.”

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